Top of the big era

Such a big case is very complex to operate.

It would be nice to get it done this year.

When Xu Baihui heard that Boss Zhou had really realized what he had boasted about back then, she excitedly bought a plane ticket overnight and ran to the United States, busy trying to help.

However, her identity was a bit off.

Jieyu Media is somewhat famous in Hollywood, mainly through its investment and cooperation with some Hollywood film companies. However, the platter investment business is purely financial investment and does not involve strategic aspects, so the level is still a bit low.

Zhou Buqi and Zhen Yu can only come forward in person.

They are qualified to participate, not because Ziweixing has great influence in the United States or has enough wealth to the point where entertainment bosses respect it.

No matter how much money you have, it's still yours and has nothing to do with them.

The reason is Pluto Capital.

This private equity company has achieved a profit of more than 35% in the past five months. During this period of economic crisis, its rate of return ranks among the top ten in the United States!

However, the others are all small capital, a few hundred million US dollars or more than a billion US dollars is enough. Fast in and fast out, the operation is very simple.

Pluto Capital is a large fund with a scale of US$10 billion.

This is enough to be amazing.

Zhou Buqi has helped many prominent people in society make money, and this is the most important thing. With this relationship, many people are willing to come forward to help, including many legislators.

Publicly and privately, this is a good thing.

Not to mention the NBCUniversal case, whether it is sold to Comcast or Ziweixing Universal, it will not have a big impact on the social structure and the pattern of the entertainment industry.

But MGM is different.

This company can't survive right now.

In order to cope with the crisis, the CEO was urgently replaced, but it still didn't work. No money means no money, and the huge debt of US$3.7 billion makes the management breathless.

It's not possible to see MGM.

This is the most important.

No matter how depressed MGM is, it was the number one giant in the golden age of Hollywood. It is a symbol of the times for the entertainment industry and Hollywood. Many older people hope to see MGM come back to life.

The consortium composed of SoftBank, MSI, Jieyu Media, and Fangfei Fund is willing to save MGM, which is of great significance. The MGM case is tied to the NBCUniversal case.

If you can't win Universal Pictures, you can't buy MGM.

As a matter of urgency, these two things are the most important.

In contrast, Marvel is not in a hurry at all.

Previously, Marvel's board of directors was very excited when they heard that Disney was interested, feeling that the era of Marvel's rise has finally arrived!

The main reason why Marvel has been unable to compete with DC in the past two decades is that DC is backed by Warner, while Marvel does not have the support of a giant.

If you can embrace Disney's lap, you can really turn your destiny around completely.

However, there are concerns about this case.

Marvel's comics are for adults. They are full of coloring, violence, abuse, and bloody content, which are seriously inconsistent with Disney's values.

Marvel does not have a distribution company, so after Marvel produced "Iron Man", it had to find a giant company to help distribute it. There were two negotiating parties at the time, one was Paramount and the other was Disney.

Because only these two film companies have a small number of film releases and their business is not saturated, they can free up more energy to help third-party companies distribute.

In the end, I chose Paramount over Disney because of considerations of values ​​and corporate culture.

No matter how large-scale a movie is, Paramount can distribute it, but Disney cannot.

This is also the reason why Disney's stock price fell for a week after the news that "Disney intends to acquire Marvel" spread. So much so that Disney had to respond publicly, saying that Disney had no plans to acquire Marvel for the time being, in order to stabilize the stock price.

But even if there are many obstacles, both parties are still in love.

Disney is interested in Marvel's IP content. This is a strategy. Marvel's board of directors took a fancy to Disney's powerful resources, distribution channels, strong brand, and most importantly...Disney has an amusement park!

Just imagine, if Marvel's superheroes had the opportunity to enter Disneyland and become an important attraction, what an honor would it be for the cartoonists? How meaningful would it be?

However, everything has changed now.

Someone on the board had a different opinion!

New shareholder Zhou Buqi does not want to sell Marvel to Disney. He said he intends to lead a consortium of companies such as SoftBank, Ziwei Star, Jieyu Media and others to make an offer for Marvel!

If it were just such a consortium, Marvel's board of directors would not be interested.

It’s a far cry from Disney.

Even if the price quoted is higher than Disney, it’s not worth it.

However, Boss Zhou also said that he has a larger plan for the entertainment industry, and acquiring Marvel is only part of it. The core business is to acquire Universal Pictures and MGM to create a new Hollywood giant Ziweixing Universal!

This is important and exciting.

First of all, Zhou Buqi is a shareholder of Marvel, a member of the board of directors, one of his own, and has priority.

Secondly, Universal Pictures also has a strong distribution system.

Third, the cultures of Universal and Marvel are more compatible. They are not as rigid as Disney, which can only make some family-friendly entertainment films and cannot dig deeper into the values ​​​​and social significance of Marvel comics.

The most important thing is that Universal Studios also has a supporting Universal Studios!

Disneyland is for children, relatively young. Universal Studios is relatively mature and has many places for adults to play. Marvel's superheroes are obviously more suitable for Universal Studios.

That’s easy to say!

Just wait for Disney and the newly formed Ziwei Star Universal to bid!

Under the same circumstances, it seems that MSI Global is better.

Throughout April, Zhou Buqi traveled between Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia, making various connections and meeting various people. Son was also busy, even visiting the White House and obtaining verbal policy commitments.

Go for it boldly!

The White House supports it!

Now is an economic crisis. Any investment that is conducive to economic development and employment stability must be supported, and some regulatory restrictions can even be relaxed.

On April 14, Zhou Buqi went to Silicon Valley and approved a resolution.

Ziweixing acquired GitHub, the most popular open source community, for US$65 million to prepare for the future development of cloud computing business. It also approved a plan to spend US$50 million to build Ziweixing's first cloud data center in continental Europe in Hamburg.

On April 17, Zhou Buqi recorded a video to congratulate the university research and development team that won the first Ziweixing Technology Award. The winning team is also an old acquaintance. It is Professor Tang's team from the University of Hong Kong who studies artificial intelligence.

On April 19, a piece of bad news came.

Ziweixing's application to acquire Perform, a London-based media company, for £7.5 million was rejected after multiple discussions and investigations.

Suspected of monopoly!

The local broadcast rights of the Premier League have been controlled by the BBC for many years. However, in addition to broadcasting, many football video services of BBC TV are outsourced. The most important highlight editing and distribution business is performed by Perform.

There is a connection.

Ziweixing is Zhou Buqi's company, and so is Manchester United. If Ziweixing acquires Perform, it may affect the fairness of Premier League competitions through Perform.

When the time comes for video editing, won’t they all be editing the highlights of Manchester United?

Will it suppress competitors?

The Premier League's local broadcast revenue is paid based on the number of broadcasts. The more broadcasts, the more revenue. Many fans don't have time to watch the complete game, so they learn about the event through video highlights. Then decide which football game to watch next based on the excitement of the highlights.

When the time comes, Ziweixing only needs to cut the highlights of Arsenal and Chelsea to make them look ugly, including all kinds of fouls and flops, but the highlights of Manchester United are all tricks... Then the ratings will be reflected. , Manchester United will have a great advantage, thus guiding TV stations to broadcast more Manchester United games.

When News Corporation wanted to acquire Manchester United and was rejected, it was because of this consideration that it gave the Glazer family an advantage.

Zhou Buqi didn't pay much attention to this.

A small setback will not affect the big plans of Ziweixing Digital Media. Now, the "official website" plan that he personally produced and designed has been developed smoothly. Under the leadership of David Dunn, 29 clubs in the UK have agreed to hand over their official websites to Ziweixing for operation next season.

It is estimated that from these 29 clubs, Ziweixing can earn more than 85 million pounds next season!

The real operating costs will not exceed 10 million pounds.

The release of such a form can be said to have attracted a burst of exclamations from Ziweixing executives at all levels.

too exaggerated!

After the news came back to China, He Yang, Ji Zian, Guo Pengfei, Meng Houkun and others were also shocked. They all exclaimed that they were doing business with European clubs. It was just like doing business with state-owned enterprises. As long as they picked the right ones, they would not do it. It's really a bloody business.

David Dunn also made a special call to Zhou Buqi and said he was inviting him to London.

Ziweixing helps operate the official website. Not only does it charge low fees, but it also provides fault compensation clauses. It is welcomed by many Premier League teams. However, Chelsea has been slow to accept it.

Mr. Abu wants to meet with Boss Zhou.

Zhou Buqi accepted it and said he would arrange it when he had time next month.

On May 1st, the best news came.

After nearly a month of communication, negotiation, negotiation, and discussion, Comcast finally agreed!

Comcast agreed to join forces with a consortium led by Masayoshi Son and Buqi Zhou to launch an acquisition of NBCUniversal. The outcome of the acquisition could lead to the split of NBCUniversal.

Such a split is not without precedent.

A few years ago, CBS and Paramount were one company, part of Viacom. Later, the Redstone family felt that the market value was seriously underestimated, so they split the two companies, and CBS and Paramount became two companies.

With learning objects, it is easy to operate.

Sun Zhengyi suggested that a senior executive from Viacom could be hired to lead this matter. After the acquisition is successful, this person can serve as the president of Ziweixing Entertainment.

Zhou Buqi did not accept this suggestion. He preferred to poach people from Disney. Disney is the Whampoa Military Academy in the media industry.

On May 3, MGM officially announced that the company had encountered a huge financial crisis. In order to resolve this situation and safeguard the rights and interests of shareholders and creditors, the board of directors will look for various ways to resolve the predicament, including selling MGM and merging with other companies.

The general direction has been determined!

Everything is changing for the better.

Xu Baihui was a little depressed, so she went to see him that night and said, "Boss Zhou, I have returned to China."

"What's wrong?" Zhou Buqi was a little surprised, "MGM's board of directors has agreed to sell it, and then we can negotiate the price."

Xu Baihui pouted and said, "I can't participate."

Zhou Buqi smiled and comforted her, "How about showing up, um... go meet the executives of MGM. When Ziweixing Global starts its business in the future, the position of chairman must belong to you!"

Xu Baihui hummed softly: "I'm following you, who dares to show mercy to me? I can't help, so I might as well go back! I also have big things to do!"

Zhou Buqi asked: "What's going on?"

Xu Baihui said arrogantly: "I can't handle the American market. How can I handle the Asian market?"

"What's going on?"

"Ai Hui is also experiencing cash flow difficulties. They want to sell stocks."

"Selling stocks?" Zhou Buqi was surprised, "Isn't Aihui an independent company? If it sells stocks, won't international giants get the chance?"

"It's not about selling Ai Hui's stocks!"

"That is?"

"Ai Hui holds 16.9% of the stocks of South Korea's S/M Entertainment. It is said that they intend to sell them all at once. Many people are panicking and wondering whether S/M and Ai Hui are at loggerheads. But as far as I know , they are still strategic partners. Even if Ai Hui sells his shares, he will still be the general agent of S/M artists in Japan."

"oh……"

Zhou Buqi blinked.

Xu Baihui glanced at him, "S/M Entertainment, don't you know? The one you always talk about, the owner of the long-legged group Girls' Generation, and that Song Qianqian."

"Where are you thinking?" Zhou Buqi snorted, "Well, this is a good idea. Such a large amount of stocks must not be sold in the secondary market. I'll tell Hyundai and help you get it. Come down!"

Xu Baihui pursed her lips and smiled, "That's what I've been waiting for! I have cooperation with S/M Entertainment and I have cooperation with Ai Hui. With the promotion of Hyundai, there will be no problem!"

"Where's the money?"

"It's just a small company. The value of the stock in Ai Hui's hand is 6 billion won, about... 5 million US dollars. Jieyu Media can easily take advantage of it! "The Voice of America", you didn't Are you watching? The ratings have exploded, ranking second among variety shows in the same period! Copyright orders have already taken off!"

"Okay, as long as you have an idea." Zhou Buqi nodded, "Jieyu Media and Ziweixing Global can only be two companies and cannot be merged. Jieyu Media wants to occupy the Asian market."

If Ziweixing Global succeeds, it will definitely become an international entertainment giant based in Hollywood. Jieyu Media cannot afford Ziweixing Global, and Ziweixing Global cannot counter-acquire Jieyu Media due to policy restrictions.

We can only play separately.

It's okay to play separately. Although the TV business is not involved, this is the media industry after all, which is relatively sensitive. Merging is not good for both parties. It is better to operate separately and each plays its own role, just like Ziweixing is split into an international version and a domestic version.